Rory and Lorelei: Life after 2007
by katie alexandra
Summary: Rory goes to philadelphia on the job and finds herself in a familiar place. Luke and Lorelei are back together at last.
1. Chapter 1

Rory arrived in Philadelphia with a whole new attitude on this brisk fall morning. She had been working extremely hard the last few months. She'd been doing alright at her new job, but she was still trying to get the hang of things. Now that she was back in her area of the country, at least, she was feeling a little bit better. She was pacing back and forth across her hotel room. Every few steps she would stop and look at the circled address in her phone book. She wanted to go, but didn't know if she should. She didn't even know if she would be wanted. After extensive thought and, of course, a pro-con list, she decided she would head out, and if she got there, then great. If she didn't, that was ok too.

About 20 minutes later, Rory was standing outside of the door to Truncheon Books. She couldn't go in, but she had come this far, she couldn't just got back. She was reaching for the handle when she heard footsteps coming up behind her.

"Rory? Is that you?" She turned around and there was Jess. He was just like he always. Mysteriously handsome and beautiful, he grinned as he said her name.

"Jess!" She walked forward to greet him. "How are you?"

"I'm great, still working here obviously," he pointed towards the building. "But what about you? What are you doing here?" He was shifting a little, with a little bit of darty-eye, Rory could tell he was a little nervous. She was too, they hadn't seen each other in over a year.

"I'm working as a journalist for this interne-"

"I know, Luke told me," Rory was assuming that Luke had volunteered the information, and that Jess hadn't asked. "I mean what are you doing _here_, at Truncheon? "

"Well, I came to see you. I haven't seen anyone I've known since I left, and I guessed I just kind of, I don't know, missed you a little." The last part of her sentence was mumbled slightly, Rory was embarrassed that she had missed him as much as she had, not that he would ever know how much he had broken her heart or how much she still missed him.

"What was that?"

"Jess, come on," Rory pleaded.

"You missed me, did you?" Rory knew without a doubt what was coming next, It was the traditional Danes family mono-syllable. "Huh," he continued, she was right.

"What, you didn't miss me at all?"

"Nope, I completely forgot about you," she knew he was joking, but she couldn't help but feel a pang in her chest. "Aww, don't worry about that. I could never forget you. You're like the Alamo or something." A smile instantly flew to Rory's face.

"Well it's great to be compared to a tragic battle. Especially one that our country lost," She replied sarcastically. It was now that she realized how cold it was. She had a coat, but they were outside in the fall and she involuntary shivered a tad bit.

"You know what I mean. So, were you planning on just standing out here all night or something?" He had apparently seen her shiver.

"Oh, I don't know. I didn't even know if I was going to come for sure until I got here. So then I was just standing outside the door when you walked u-"

"Do you want to come in?"

"Umm, sure. Yeah, that would be great."

A few states over, in Stars Hallow, Lorelei and Luke were walking back to the diner after a town meeting. Kirk had just publically proposed to Lulu during the meeting. It had been a sweet proposal, one knee and flowers. Everything was going fine until Kirk tripped over an extension cord and dropped the ring, but it was Kirk, so something like that was bound to happen. As Luke and Lorelei were walking silently, hand in hand, Lorelei was thinking about their past proposal, both wondering when they would get there again, if they would ever get there again. She looked over at Luke and smiled to herself "_We'll get there this time,"_ she thought. They had only been back together for four months, but it seemed like a whole other lifetime.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, something on your mind?" she asked him as they were entering the diner. He had been unusually stoic since Kirk's proposal; she assumed it was because he was thinking the same thing she was.

"It's nothing, I'm just distracted, that's all," He replied after a short pause. "Do we have anything planned for tomorrow night?"

"No I don't think so."

"Cause I was thinking that maybe we could go somewhere for dinner or something. We haven't done that in a while." He was sounding nervous, but Lorelei was thrilled to do something, anything. Her social life had slowed down so much since Rory left.

"Yeah, that would be great! I can't wait." Her smile was practically audible, the oblivious Luke could even tell.

"It would be, wouldn't it," he leaned in and kissed her sweetly. "Let's go upstairs,"

"But what about my pie," he chuckled. "You know how I love pie," she said as she was walking towards the staircase and then twirled around the wall to head upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

"So here it is, Truncheon Books," Jess said opening his arms wide to display his new life. "In all it's glory."

"It, well, it's just the same, except there aren't any other people"

"Oh yeah," he remarked. "I always forget that you've been here." That fact was a flat out lie, but Jess wanted to remain mysterious, just like he always does.

Rory, however, was sad that he didn't remember it. It was the last time they had seen each other, and while it hadn't ended well, she still thought about it every day. "Oh that's ok, I wasn't here that long anyways," she looked sad even thinking about it.

"So is that still happening? The whole Loga-"

"NO!" she shouted, much sharper than needed, or intended. "I mean, no. He proposed, but I said no."

Jess was completely happy, but tried to sound concerned for Rory. "Why? Didn't you love him?"

"It just wasn't right. I didn't love him like I loved—" she stopped. Had she really almost said _like I loved you_?

"Wait, what did you just say?" Jess didn't want to get his hopes up, not after last time, but he couldn't help it.

"Nothing, it's just…" she couldn't think of the right words, she didn't even know what she meant. "I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore."

"What doesn't matter anymore?" He was getting antsy now. If she wouldn't tell him what she was going to say, he burst.

"I don't know. Being here, with you, it just brings back a lot of memories." Rory hoped with all of her heart that she hadn't said too much.

"Yeah, I guess it does." He began to wander towards her. "A lot of memories and," he paused not knowing if he should continue, "a lot of feelings too." As soon as he said it, Rory began to slowly walk to Jess. She couldn't tell if it was because she really wanted to, or it was just in the heat of the moment. At this point, she didn't even care, it was Jess. "So why did you really come here Rory?"

"I guess, maybe, I've been thinking about you lately," she admitted shyly.

"I've missed you Rory, more than you could know." She knew exactly then that her decision to come here had been the right one.

"I know, trust me I know," they leaned towards each other to reunite in a kiss. It was so much different than it used to be, but at the same time it was exactly the same. They reconnected throughout the night, what they had been doing since they last saw each other, careers, even Luke and Lorelei were mentioned. They let the years fade away and lead them to an unknown place, a place paralleled to their dreams if not even more wonderful.

Lorelei and Luke were in Atlantic City standing in a wedding chapel. The minister was dressed like Elvis, Lorelei did like to keep things whimsical.

"Now, Luke Danes?" Reverend "Elvis" inquired. His vocal impression of the king could definitely use some work. "Do you take this foxy lady, Lorelei, to be yours forever and ever?"

Lorelei turned to look at her almost husband when he told the minister one simple word. "No, we don't need to get married." The shock and heartbreak were ripping through Lorelei's soul. "We'll probably just break up again anyways, right Lorelei?" Her worst fear had just come to life.

"What! What happened?" She sat abruptly. _Oh, Thank God, _she thought to herself, _I was only dreaming._

"Huh?" Luke mumbled. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, hun. It was just a bad dream, nothing serious." He mumbled something else and rolled back to sleep. "It was just a dream," she told herself again, trying to convince herself it was true. She just hoped it would stay a dream, and not come to haunt her in real life.


	3. Chapter 3

After Lorelei's dream, she couldn't fall back asleep. She didn't want to bother Luke with her petulant fears, but she had to talk to someone. She could call Rory! She was usually awake this time of night anyways, trying to finish an article before her next deadline. Lorelei quietly got out of bed and snuck out to the stairway, she didn't want to make too much noise.

The phone rang quite a few times, yet Lorelei refused to hang up. She still didn't know the surprise that awaited her on the other end of the phone.

"Whoever this is, go die, because in case you didn't realize it's the middle of the night so you had better have a damn good excuse." Rory always could be quite testy upon being woken up any time at night.

"Hey kid, it's me. So I was having this dream-"

"Rory?" Lorelei heard in the background of the phone. It was obviously a man's voice and the dream flew right out of her head.

"Wait! Who is that? Where are you? How could you find a guy and not even tell me?" Her mind, and her mouth were moving a thousand miles a second. Rory could barely understand a word Lorelei said, but knew exactly what Lorelei was talking about.

"Oh sorry Mom, I have to run-"

"No, no, no. Now you just wait a second and tell me who the guy is. And don't even _think_ about telling me there isn't one, I heard him."

"Are you sure you want to know," she looked at Jess who had sat up by then, assessing the situation. Neither one of them knew what would come next. If Lorelei hadn't called, they both would've been dreaming about the wonderful night before.

"Yes I'm sure now just tell me!"

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." She looked back at him again giving him an apologetic look. There was no getting out of this one. "Well, we were in Philadelphia for the campaign, you knew that already. So, when I got here, realized that someone I know lives here, someone we both know. " Rory was hoping that Lorelei would figure it out and interject so she wouldn't have to continue. She didn't. "Anyways, I got the phone book out of the drawer and looked up the address. I was debating on coming or not, but the pro/con list convinced me. Those things never fai-"

"Rory, just tell me who it is already! I'm freaking out here." Lorelei had a feeling she already knew, but didn't want to say anything yet.

"I'm with Jess," Rory waited for some lecture or even a joke, but not silence.

"What? Jess, as in Jess Mariano? The one who broke your heart more than once? That Jess?" The panic in Lorelei's voice had shocked Rory, this was definitely not the reaction she was expecting. She bit her lip, trying to find the right words.

"Yeah, that's the one." She turned around to look at Jess again, he was lost in thought. She wasn't exactly sure what to do next. Even more shocking that her lack of words was Jess's next move, he reached for Rory's cell phone.

"Umm, Lorelei? Hi, it's Jess. Now I know I'm probably the last one you want to be talking to, but could you, well, could you not mention anything to Luke?" She said something on the other line that Rory couldn't hear, but Jess thanked her and handed back the phone.

"I think I can process my own dream, but thank you for your dream analyzing service anyway. Bye, sweets."

"Bye Mom." She hung up the phone and put it back on the ground by the bed. _Now what, _she thought to herself. What did any of this mean? What was he thinking?

"Now what?" It was as if Jess had been reading her mind. They both laid back against the pillows at the same time, neither knowing what to say or how to act, just waiting for the other to react.


	4. Chapter 4

_Now what?_ Those were the words that were echoing in Rory's mind as she tried to figure out exactly that. As she and Jess sat there silently, neither one of them knew what to say, or if they should say anything at all.

"So," Rory stated bluntly, slightly startling Jess, "last night. That was," she paused to collect her thoughts, "interesting."

"Yes, definitely interesting."

"Good interesting," she inquired "or bad?" Rory regretted this almost as soon as she said it. She knew that Jess would never lie to her no matter how much it could hurt her. Sometimes she wished he would lie to her for her own good.

"Well," she held her breath as soon as he began to speak, "it was _mostly_ good." The _mostly_ part hit Rory like a punch in the gut. There was nothing _mostly_ about it! She didn't even know what to say or what to think, so for this rare occasion, she let her emotions speak for her.

"_Mostly_? What exactly do you mean by mostly? We just slept together, and let me tell you I am damn good at that, and you say the night was _mostly_ good?" Jess was shocked at Rory's outburst. The only other times he had heard her that upset was when he told her he loved her and on the answering machine message he wasn't supposed to listen to. Knowing Rory, though, she would be right, about everything. "Do you want to know what I was thinking about last night? I was thinking it was perfect and amazing. Oh! Never mind, it was just _mostly_ perfect and _mostly_ amazing. I can't believe that you wou-"

"Rory, just wai-" she cut him off immediately.

"No! I will not just wait! I'm ranting! But you, you're not ranting! Jess Mariano doesn't rant, he just sulks!"

"Rory, please. Just let me say something." She was about to object when he spoke again. "I promise if you let me say what I need to say and you still want to, you can rant as long as you want to." He paused to see if she would stop him, but she just nodded in acceptance of the offer. "The reason I said it was mostly good was because I didn't know what would happen today or even further into the future. Additionally, I didn't want to say that it was perfect _and _amazing, it was, don't get me wrong, and then have you say that is was just ok. To tell you the truth, last night may have been one of the best nights of my life." His last words fell like a knife in the room. Jess was looking out the window at the faint hint of sunrise over the horizon. Rory just watched Jess, trying to read his expression.

"Jess, I-Well, I don't exactly know what now or what it all means, but there is one thing about all of this that I'm pretty set on."

"And what is that?" He truly wanted to know, but Jess was so afraid of what was to be said next.

"Last night, from the moment I say you all the way to now, was perfect. It was beyond perfect, and it was definitely the best night of my life." He sighed with relief. At first Rory mistook that despair, but then he turned to her and smiled.

"Thank God," he whispered. Jess then wrapped his arms around Rory in a loving embrace and passionately kissed her. As Jess and Rory began to solve many of their problems, Luke and Lorelei got some new problems of their own.

"Could you, well, could you possibly not mention this to Luke?" Jess pleaded with Lorelei. He didn't know why he had asked Lorelei not to say anything, but it just seemed important that if anyone would be telling Luke, that it should be Jess.

"No, I won't say anything. But there's something I need to say to you and I think you need to listen. If you do anything, I mean _anything_, that could hurt her at all, I will personally hunt you down and you'll wish you'd never met Rory, and by extension, me at all. You will not break her heart again. Not this time. Now I'm going to assume that you agree and accept this by your not saying anything. Now pass the phone back." As Rory and Lorelei finished their talk, Jess reflected on the conversation. He knew that any threat made by a Gilmore, especially Lorelei, would be carried out to full extent.

Another person was thinking as the Gilmore girls finished up their conversation. Luke Danes had woken up from Lorelei's harsh tone in the hallway. He was wondering who she could possibly be talking to at this late hour. Usually the only person she would do this was Rory, but they hadn't had a late night phone call since Rory started the campaign. He wondered who it could possibly be.

"Bye sweets," Lorelei hung up the phone and re-entered Luke's apartment and was shocked to find Luke himself awake.

"Hey, who was on the phone?"

"Oh it was Rory." She was a little fidgety, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Still, Luke was a little suspicious. "I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, so I called her." Lorelei convinced herself that she wasn't really lying. She had been talking to Rory because she woke up in the middle of the night. Telling herself this was the only way she could fib.

Luke, on the other hand, could always tell when something was bothering Lorelei, or when she was hiding something. He knew she would never cheat on him, but he couldn't help but wonder what had really happened, and more than that, why she hid it in the first place.

"Oh. Luke, on the other hand, could always tell when something was bothering Lorelei, or when she was hiding something. He knew she would never cheat on him, but he couldn't help but wonder what had really happened, and more than that, why she hid it in the first place.

"Oh. You coming back to bed?" he asked. He didn't push his questions on her; he had more important things on his mind that single mysterious phones call. He himself had had a mysterious phone call only hours before. It wouldn't be long until all mysteries would be solved on the Stars Hollow front. As for Philadelphia, that was a different story.


End file.
